Anti-aliasing characters for improved display on an interlaced television monitor

ABSTRACT

Anti-aliasing characters for improved display on an interlaced television monitor is described. In one implementation, an expanded character is generated by increasing a character&#39;s original dimensions. The expanded character includes multiple sub-blocks and each sub-block includes multiple pixels. The pixels of each sub-block are mapped to a single destination color that is based on specific numbers of foreground pixels in the sub-block and a particular number of gray levels used to represent the character. Subsequent to this mapping, the expanded character is scaled back to its original size.

BACKGROUND

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/154,770 filed on May 23, 2002, titled “Anti-Aliasing Characters forImproved Display on an Interlaced Television Monitor”, which is herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Televisions monitors are typically designed to display a composite videosignal with a frame refresh rate of either 70 Hz or 60 Hz, wherein eachframe consists of two interlaced fields. One field includes all of theodd lines of the frame. The other field includes all of the even fieldsof the frame. A refresh rate of 60 Hz or 70 Hz means that the twointerlaced fields are alternately displayed on a television monitor at arate of either 60 or 70 half-frames (interlaced) per second.

An artifact of this arrangement is that fine details with high contrast,such as thin white lines on a black background, may be contained onlywithin one of these fields. This causes fine details to flicker on atelevision display because the field which contains the fine detail isrefreshed at half the frequency of the entire frame and is alternatedwith the other field, which does not contain the fine detail. Thisflickering often causes detailed images such as digital images (e.g.,Web pages, font characters, bit-mapped images, and so on), which wereoriginally designed for display on a computer monitor to be difficult toread on an interlaced television display; especially the display ofcharacters (e.g., letters, numbers punctuation, etc.) that are outputonto a television monitor based on structurally intricate or complexfonts such as East Asian fonts.

The following described arrangements and procedures address thislimitation and other limitations of traditional systems and proceduresto prepare font characters for display on interlaced monitors.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

Anti-aliasing characters for improved display on an interlacedtelevision monitor is described. In one implementation, an expandedcharacter is generated by increasing a character's original dimensions.The expanded character includes multiple sub-blocks and each sub-blockincludes multiple pixels. The pixels of each sub-block are mapped to asingle destination color that is based on specific numbers of foregroundpixels in the sub-block and a particular number of gray levels used torepresent the character. Subsequent to this mapping, the expandedcharacter is scaled back to its original size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference likefeatures and components.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an aliased character based on a font that wasdesigned with substantially smooth curves and lines.

FIG. 2 shows an example of aliased text characters as they may appearwhen displayed on a television screen; the aliased text beingpotentially illegible and fatiguing to read.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional anti-aliased character, wherein aliased orjagged edges have been substantially removed.

FIG. 4 shows conventional anti-aliased text displayed on an interlacedtelevision monitor.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary environment in which the methods andsystems to anti-alias characters of a font for improved display on aninterlaced monitor may be implemented.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing further aspects of the exemplaryclient device of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 shows aspects of an exemplary special anti-aliased character,which is substantially clear and does not exhibit flickering whendisplayed on an interlaced monitor.

FIG. 8 shows aspects of an exemplary special anti-aliased text as it mayappear when displayed on an interlaced television screen. The specialanti-aliased text is based on special anti-aliased characters of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 provides a side-by-side comparison of various aspects of: analiased character of FIG. 1 with corresponding aliased text of FIG. 2; aconventional anti-aliased character of FIG. 3 with correspondingconventional anti-aliased text of FIG. 4; and a special anti-aliasedcharacter of FIGS. 6 and 7 with corresponding special anti-aliased textof FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 shows aspects of an exemplary procedure to generate a specialanti-aliased character for display on an interlaced monitor.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary character font in an original requested size.

FIG. 12 shows aspects of the exemplary character font of FIG. 11 thatwas expanded in size (i.e., expanded in both width and heightdimensions).

FIG. 13 shows further aspects of an exemplary procedure of FIG. 10 togenerate a special anti-aliased character for display on an interlacedmonitor. More specifically, FIG. 13 shows further aspects of block 1016of FIG. 10, wherein pixels of each block of an expanded character areconverted to a single destination color.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description sets forth exemplary subject matter toanti-alias characters for improved display on an interlaced monitor. Thesubject matter is described with specificity to meet statutoryrequirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limitthe scope of this patent. Rather, the inventors have contemplated thatthe claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, toinclude different elements or combinations of elements similar to theones described in this document, in conjunction with other present orfuture technologies.

Overview

Conventional anti-aliasing techniques were not designed to addressdifferences of structural complexity between various character sets whenpreparing characters for display on an interlaced television monitor.For instance, Latin based character sets are substantially simple instructure as compared to the structure of a number of East Asiancharacter sets (e.g, Chinese, Korean, and/or Japanese characters).

One example of this structural difference is the relative use ofvertical and/or horizontal lines in character representation. East Asianalphabets typically utilize many horizontal lines to representcharacters. In contrast, Latin alphabets are typically dominant withrespect to the use of vertical lines to represent characters. Becausethese structural differences are not taken into account by conventionalimage processing techniques, potentially illegible and aestheticallyunpleasing structurally complex characters are typically displayed oninterlaced monitors; especially on interlaced monitors withsubstantially slow scan refresh rates.

These and other limitations of conventional anti-aliasing imageprocessing techniques are described in further detail before describingthe novel aspects of this invention.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an aliased character 100 based on a font(e.g., a mapped, true type, or ClearType® font) that was designed withsubstantially smooth curves and lines. The aliased character 100 isgenerated by scan converting, or increasing the resolution of acorresponding font character for display on a monitor. The curves andlines of the aliased character 100 are jagged (i.e., stairstep-likelines) at the higher resolution required by the monitor. Conventionalanti-aliasing techniques are typically utilized to smooth out thesejagged edges and curves of the character 100 prior to display on themonitor.

FIG. 2 shows an example of aliased text characters 200 as they mayappear when displayed on a television screen. The aliased text 200 ispotentially illegible and fatiguing to read.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional “anti-aliased” character 300, whereinaliased or jagged edges have been substantially removed from thecorresponding character 100 (ideally, the character's edges/curves areas smooth as those of the corresponding font from on which the characteris based). To accomplish this, the aliased character 100 is essentiallysurrounded with intermediate shades of gray for grayscale display, orcolor for color display.

The smoothness and contrast to the conventional anti-aliased character300 has been somewhat improved for display on a computer monitor. Thisis due in part because computer monitors are not interlaced andtypically display digital images at high resolutions (e.g., 440×380pixels-per-square inch, or greater) and substantially high scanlinerefresh rates (e.g., refresh rates of greater than or equal to 120 MHzare not uncommon). However, even though the conventional anti-aliasedcharacter 300 is substantially sufficient for display on a computermonitor, the anti-aliased character 300 is typically very difficult toread and substantially unaesthetic when displayed on an interlacedtelevision monitor.

For instance, FIG. 4 shows conventional anti-aliased text 400 as itwould appear when displayed on an interlaced television monitor. Noticethat the conventional anti-aliased text 400 is aesthetically unpleasingand potentially illegible (e.g., blurry) because it lacks sufficientcontrast on the white background. The unaesthetic nature and blurrinessof conventional anti-aliased text is potentially increased when theconventional anti-aliased text is presented on an interlaced monitor dueto blurring and flickering caused by the alternate display of framefields and corresponding slow refresh scanline rates (e.g., 60-70 Hz).

Exemplary aspects of arrangements and procedures to display specialanti-aliased characters for improved display on an interlaced monitorare now described.

An Exemplary System

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary environment 500 in which the methods andsystems to anti-alias characters of a font for improved display on aninterlaced monitor may be implemented. One or more content providers 502include stored content 504 and a content server 506. Content server 506controls the movement of content (including stored content 504) from thecontent provider 502 to a content distribution system 508, which iscoupled to the content provider. Additionally, the content server 506controls the movement of live content (e.g., content that was notpreviously stored by the content provider) and content stored at otherlocations to the content distribution system.

The content distribution system 508 contains a broadcast transmitter 510and one or more content processors 512. Broadcast transmitter 510broadcasts signals (e.g., cable television signals) across a broadcastnetwork 514, such as a cable television network. Broadcast network 514may include wired or wireless media using any broadcast format orbroadcast protocol. Content processor 512 processes the content receivedfrom content provider 502 prior to transmitting the content across thebroadcast network 514 to one or more client devices 516(1) through516(N). A particular content processor may encode or otherwise processthe received content into a format that is understood by the clientdevices 516. Although FIG. 5 shows a single content provider 502 and asingle content distribution system 508, a particular environment mayinclude any number of content providers coupled to any number of contentdistribution systems.

Client devices 516(1) through 516(N) provide digital broadcast contentreceived from content distribution system 508 to respective televisions518 and 522. A client device 516 is also referred to as a set-top box,game console or a satellite receiving device. A particular client device516 may be coupled to any number of televisions 518. Similarly, anynumber of client devices 516 may be coupled to a television 518.

In the illustrated implementation, a client device 516(1) receivesbroadcast content from a satellite-based transmitter via a satellitedish 520. Client device 516(1) is coupled to a television 518(1) forpresenting the content received by the client device (i.e., Web pages,audio data, video data, etc.) as well as a graphical user interface.Another client device 516(2) is coupled to receive broadcast contentfrom broadcast network 514 and provide the received content to atelevision 518(2). Another client device 516(N) is a combination of atelevision 522 and a set-top box 524. In this example, the variouscomponents and functionality of the set-top box are incorporated intothe television, rather than using two separate devices. The set-top boxincorporated into the television may receive broadcast signals via asatellite dish (similar to satellite dish 520) and/or via broadcastnetwork 514. In alternate embodiments, client devices 516 may receivebroadcast signals via the Internet or any other broadcast medium.

Each client device 516 hosts a respective anti-aliasing program module526 to generate special anti-aliased characters 528 (e.g.,528(1)-528(N)) for improved legibility and less flicker when displayedon respective interlaced television screens 518 and 522 (see, also thespecial anti-aliased character 528 of FIGS. 6, 7, and 9, and the specialanti-aliased text 800 of FIGS. 8 and 9). In one implementation,anti-aliasing program module 526 is implemented as a device driver thatexecutes at the client device.

The anti-aliasing module 526 generates special anti-aliased characters528 by expanding a character, having an original size, by a factor. Theexpanded character is divided into multiple blocks, where the actualnumber of blocks is a function of the expansion factor. Each expandedblock has a corresponding number of pixels.

For each block of the expanded character, the anti-aliasing module 526identifies a number of pixels in the block that correspond to aforeground color of the character font and maps the number of pixels toa grayscale color value. The module 526 then converts the mapped pixelsto a destination color based at least in part on the grayscale colorvalue and reduces the font character back to its original pre-expandedsize to generate a special anti-aliased character 528.

The generated special anti-aliased character 528 provides forpotentially less eye-straining flicker and improved legibility whendisplayed on respective interlaced television screens 518 and 522. Itcan be appreciated that multiple special anti-aliased characters 528 arerepresented as special anti-aliased text (e.g., text 800 of FIGS. 8 and9)

An Exemplary Client Device

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing further aspects of the exemplaryclient device 516 of FIG. 5. The client device 516 includes one or moreprocessors 602 coupled across a bus 604 to a system memory 606. Bus 604is used by the processor 602 to transfer data between the processor 602,system memory 606, and/or other components of the client device (e.g.,one or more tuners, broadcast signal encoders/decoders, and so on).

For instance, the bus 604 represents one or more of any of several typesof bus structures, for example, a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or localbus using any of a variety of bus architectures (e.g., Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), Enhanced ISA(EISA), Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), PeripheralComponent Interconnects (PCI) bus architecture, and so on).

The system memory 606 includes a variety of computer-readable media thatis accessible by the processor 602, for example, volatile random accessmemory (RAM), non-volatile read-only memory (ROM), flash memory(EEPROM), removable and non-removable storage media, and so on. The RAMcomponent of system memory 606 typically contains at least portions ofcomputer-program code or program modules 608 and/or data 610 that areimmediately accessible to and/or presently be executed or operated on bythe processor 602. The ROM and/or flash memory components of systemmemory 606 also include at least portions of program modules 608 and/ordata 610 (e.g., BIOS 614, and font data 616 to describe various aspectsof one or more character sets such as an East Asian character set).

Generally, program modules 608 include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Not only is the processor 602configured to fetch and execute computer-executable instructions 608 anddata 610 respectively from portions of memory 606, but portions ofprogram modules 608 may be executed on a remote processing device thatis linked to the client device 516 through a communications network.Accordingly, program modules 608 and data 610 may be located in bothlocal and remote computer storage media including memory storage devicesthat are coupled to the client device 516.

In this illustration, program modules 608 include, for example,anti-aliasing module 526 to generate one or more special anti-aliasedcharacters 528 of FIG. 5 from one or more fonts 616 for potentiallyimproved display on an interlaced monitor. The anti-aliasing module 526generates these special anti-aliased characters 528 regardless ofwhether the characters 528 are derived from structurally simple fonts(e.g., Latin character sets) or structurally complex fonts 616 (e.g.,Asian character sets). (Aspects of an exemplary procedure of theanti-aliasing module 526 are described in greater detail below inreference to FIGS. 10-13).

Program modules 608 portion of memory 606 further includes, for example,other modules 614 (e.g., an operating system (OS) such as the WINDOWSCE® embedded operating system, a basic input/output system (BIOS) 614(i.e., basic routines that help to transfer information betweencomponents within the client device 516 during client device 516start-up), device drivers to communicate with other electronic andcomputing devices, and so on).

Data 610 includes font data 616 (e.g., one or more font files), one ormore special anti-aliased characters 528 or text, and a grayscalemapping table 620, and other data 622 such as a request from anapplication for a character. Font data includes one or more fonts thatare utilized by the anti-aliasing module 526 to generate specialanti-aliased character 528. Grayscale mapping table 620 is used byanti-aliasing module 526 to map color characteristics of a characterfrom font data 620 to destination colors represented in specialanti-aliased character(s) 528. (Grayscale mapping table 620 is discussedin greater detail below in reference to TABLE 2 and FIGS. 10-11).

An Exemplary Special Anti-Aliased Character

FIG. 7 shows further aspects of an exemplary special anti-aliasedcharacter 528 of FIGS. 5 and 6. When displayed on an interlacedtelevision monitor, special anti-aliased character 528 is substantiallyclear at the edges and darker in the center, providing for substantiallyimproved legibility as compared to conventional aliased and anti-aliasedcharacters. The special anti-aliased character 528 utilizes sixteen (16)gray levels to anti-alias the edges of the character 528.

FIG. 8 shows aspects of an exemplary special anti-aliased text 800 as itmay appear when displayed on an interlaced television screen. Thespecial anti-aliased text is generated in a similar manner as thespecial anti-aliased characters 528 of FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 9 provides a side-by-side comparison of various aspects of: analiased character 100 (FIG. 1) with corresponding aliased text 200 (FIG.2); a conventional anti-aliased character 300 (FIG. 3) withcorresponding conventional anti-aliased text 400 (FIG. 4); and a specialanti-aliased character 528 (FIGS. 6 and 7) with corresponding specialanti-aliased text 800 (FIG. 8). Specifically, FIG. 9 shows that thespecial anti-aliased character 528 and the special anti-aliased text 800are substantially clear and do not exhibit as many potentiallydistracting flickering properties as compared to the aliasedcharacters/text and conventional anti-aliased characters/text whendisplayed on an interlaced television monitor.

An Exemplary Procedure to Generate a Special Anti-Aliased Character

FIG. 10 shows aspects of an exemplary procedure 1000 to generate aspecial anti-aliased character (e.g., character(s) 528 of FIGS. 5-7) fordisplay on an interlaced monitor such as a television monitor 518 or 522of FIG. 5. At block 1002, the anti-aliasing module 526 receives arequest (e.g., request 622 of FIG. 6) from an application (e.g., a Webbrowser, 614 of FIG. 6, a broadcast program guide, etc.) for a character(e.g., a character in font data 616 of FIG. 6) in a particular font. Therequest specifies a character size.

FIG. 11 shows such an exemplary character font 1100 that may berequested by an application (block 1002). In this example, the exemplarycharacter 1100 is based on a structurally complex Chinese character setfont. However, the exemplary character 1100 could have been selectedfrom any font (e.g., Latin fonts, symbol fonts, mathematical fonts,etc.) that is available from font data 616.

The size of the exemplary character 1100 is sixteen (16)pixels-by-sixteen (16) pixels, which specifies the character's width andheight. The character size specified by the application is applicationdependent and may be based on any number of various criteria such asapplication or user display preferences.

In this example, the character 1100 includes an exemplary foregroundcolor 1102 of red (“R”) that is identified by the darkest gray colors ofFIG. 11. The RGB color value for red is (255, 0, 0). The character 1100also includes an exemplary background color 1104 of yellow that isidentified by the lighter gray colors of FIG. 11 that surround thedarker gray colors 1102. The RGB value of yellow is equal to (255, 255,0). These exemplary foreground 1102 and background 1104 RGB values areutilized later in this exemplary procedure 1000 (i.e., blocks 1012 and1016) to generate a special anti-aliased character for display on aninterlaced monitor. The exemplary foreground color 1102 and theexemplary background color 1104 of the character 1100 can be of anyrespective colors and the particular values used in this example areutilized only for purposes of demonstration.

At block 1004, the anti-aliasing module 526 retrieves the requestedcharacter from font data 616. At block 1006, the anti-aliasing module526 increases the dimensions of the requested character (e.g., character1100) by multiplying the character's size by a particular factor. Theparticular factor is based on the particular number of gray levels usedin representation of the character. The factor may range from 2¹×2¹ to2⁴×2⁴ gray levels. For a conventional computer monitor, the number ofgray levels is typically 16×16 or 256.

In one implementation, 2²×2² or 4×4 or 16 gray levels (i.e., theparticular factor of block 1004) are used. This is because 16 graylevels requires less memory to process in a low-resource environment(meaning that a client such as a cable and satellite set-top box haslimited memory and/or processing resources), wherein the amount ofmemory reserved for program data and processing is limited.Additionally, characters produced according to procedure 1000 anddisplayed on an interlaced television monitor with 16 levels of grayexhibit substantial legibility.

FIG. 12 shows aspects of the exemplary expanded character 1100′ producedby multiplying the dimensions of the font character 1100 of FIG. 11 by afactor. In this illustration, which is an example, the factor is four(4) in both width and height dimension. This means that prior to theoperation at block 1006, the dimensions of the exemplary character wereoriginally 16×16 pixels and subsequent to the operation at block 1006,the character has been expanded to 64×64 pixels.

Referring to the procedure of FIG. 10, at block 1008, the anti-aliasingmodule 526 divides the expanded character (block 1006) into a number ofblocks such that the number of blocks in the width dimension is the sameas the number of blocks in the height dimension. The particular numberof blocks that the expanded character is divided into is based on thefactor. For instance, in the example of FIG. 12, the original characterwas expanded by a factor of 4 both in the height and width dimensions.This produced an expanded character of 64×64 pixels. Dividing thedimensions of the expanded character by the factor provides 16×16blocks, wherein each block consists of 16 corresponding pixels.

Block 1010 of procedure 1000 consists of three (3) operations that arerespectively performed on each block (e.g., each of the 16×16 blocks) ofpixels in the expanded character (block 1006). These 3 operations areidentified by blocks 1012 through 1016. Specifically, at block 1012, theanti-aliasing module 526 identifies the foreground color 1102′ and thebackground color 1104′ with respect to the present block (e.g., see theexplanation of background foreground color provided at the descriptionfor block 1002).

For instance, call-out 1202 of FIG. 12 illustrates a block 1204 of theexpanded character font 1100′. The block 1204 consists of a number offoreground pixels and background pixels. The foreground pixels of thisexample are represented by the four (4) darker sub-blocks of block 1204.The background pixels of this example are represented by the twelve (12)lighter sub-blocks of block 1204.

At block 1014 of FIG. 10, the anti-aliasing module 526 generates afactor-level RGB mapping table 620 of FIG. 6 based on the backgroundforeground color using following algorithm of TABLE 1:

TABLE 1 Exemplary Formula for Determining a Destination Color for anExpanded Character Block R = (Rf* gray/factor) + (Rb*(factor −gray)/factor); G = (Gf* gray/factor) + (Gb*(factor − gray)/factor); andB = (Bf* gray/factor) + (Bb*(factor − gray)/factor).

“Factor” is equal to the particular number of gray levels used inrepresenting the character that is being anti-aliased. Here it is 4×4 or16. “Rf” is equal to the red aspect of the mapped foreground color(e.g., foreground color 1102). “Gf” is equal to the green aspect of themapped foreground color. “Bf” is equal to the blue aspect of the mappedforeground color. “Rb” is equal to the red aspect of the mappedbackground color (e.g., background color 1104). “Gb” is equal to thegreen aspect of the mapped background color. “Bb” is equal to the blueaspect of the mapped background color. And, gray is equal to the numberof pixels in the block that represent the foreground color. Its valuerange is decided by the factor value. Here its range is 0-16.

As discussed above, the factor represents the number of gray level usedto represent the character. In this implementation, the factor is 4×4 or16, so a 16-level RGB mapping table is generated. TABLE 2 shows anexemplary grayscale color mapping table 620.

TABLE 2 An Exemplary Grayscale Color Mapping Table

R(red) G(green) B(blue) Gray Rf*Gray/16 + Rb*(16-Gray)/16 Gf*Gray/16 +Gb*(16-Gray)/16 Bf*Gray/16 + Bb*(16-Gray)/16 16

255 0 0 15

255 16 0 14

255 32 0 13

255 48 0 12

255 64 0 11

255 80 0 10

255 96 0 9

255 112 0 8

255 128 0 7

255 143 0 6

255 159 0 5

255 175 0 4

255 191 0 3

255 207 0 2

255 223 0 1

255 239 0 0

255 255 0

Mapping table 620 of TABLE 2 illustrates sixteen (16) values ofgrayscale color mapped to specific RGB colors. It can be appreciatedthat the grayscale color mapping table 620 may represent fewer of moregrayscale color values as a function of how many grayscale color valuesare used to represent a character (i.e., the factor). With respect tothe immediate example, the value 16 maps to the RGB color of (255, 0,0). Thus, if 16 pixels of the currently processed block of the expandedcharacter correspond to the foreground color, a grayscale color of (255,0, 0) is identified or mapped.

At block 1016, the anti-aliasing module 526 converts the block'scorresponding pixels to a single destination color. This conversion isbased on a number of criteria, including, the determined foreground andbackground colors, and the particular number of gray levels used (i.e.,the gray levels used here is 4×4 or 16). Further aspects of theoperation of block 1016 are now described in reference to FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 shows the conversion block 1016 of FIG. 10 in more detail,wherein pixels of each block in an expanded character are converted to asingle destination color. At operation 1302, for a given expanded block1204, the anti-aliasing module 526 determines the number of pixels inthe processed block that represent the determined foreground color,which is the actual character color as opposed to the background color.

At operation 1304, the anti-aliasing module 526 maps the determinednumber of pixels to a particular grayscale color value. This grayscalecolor is the destination color of the processed block. For instance, if16 pixels in the currently processed block are used to specifyforeground color, then the grayscale value that corresponds to the value16 is identified and correspondingly destination color value (255, 0, 0)is also identified.

Referring now to block 1204 of FIG. 12, there are 4 pixels of theprocessed block 1204 that correspond to the determined foreground color.In this example, the grayscale (destination) color mapping table 620 asshown in Table 2, illustrates that a grayscale (destination) color of(255, 191, 0) maps to an expanded block that has 4 foreground pixels.

Returning to FIG. 10, at block 1018, after the operations of blocks 1016and 1018 have been performed for each block of the expanded character(block 1006), the anti-aliasing module 526 scales the expanded fontcharacter back to the font's original size (i.e., the size of thecharacter prior to being expanded at block 1006) for subsequent displayon an interlaced monitor.

In this manner, the anti-aliasing module 526 generates a specialanti-aliased character 528 (e.g., see the special anti-aliased character528 of FIGS. 6 and 7).

Conclusion

Although anti-aliasing characters for improved display on an interlacedtelevision monitor has been described been described in languagespecific to structural features and methodological operations, it is tobe understood that anti-aliasing characters for improved display on aninterlaced television monitor, as defined the appended claims, is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or operations described.Rather, the specific features and operations are disclosed as preferredforms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

1. A method comprising: increasing dimensions of a character having anoriginal size to generate an expanded character, the character beingbased on a particular number of gray levels, the expanded charactercomprising of a plurality of sub-blocks, each sub-block comprising arespective plurality of pixels; and generating a special anti-aliasedcharacter by: identifying a number to indicate how many foreground colorpixels are in the sub-block: mapping the identified number to a singledestination color that is based at least in part on the identifiednumber of foreground pixels in the respective pixels of the sub-blockand the particular number of gray levels; and scaling the expandedcharacter back to the original size.
 2. A method as recited in claim 1,wherein mapping the respective pixels of each sub-block to a singledestination color is based on the following equation:R=(Rf*gray/factor)+(Rb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (a)G=(Gf*gray/factor)+(Gb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (b)B=(Bf*gray/factor)+(Bb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (c) wherein “factor” isequal to the particular number of gray levels, “Rf” is equal to a redaspect of the foreground color, “Gf” is equal to a green aspect of theforeground color, “Bf” is equal to a blue aspect of the foregroundcolor, “Rb” is equal to a red aspect of background color, “Gb” is equalto a green aspect of the background color, “Bb” is equal to a blueaspect of the background color, and “gray”is a number that correspondsto sub-block foreground color pixels; and wherein R, G, and B are thesingle destination color.
 3. A method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a request from an application for the character,the request specifying the original size; obtaining the character from afont file; and subsequent to generating the special anti-aliasedcharacter based on the character, communicating the special anti-aliasedcharacter to the application.
 4. A computer-readable medium comprisingcomputer-executable instructions executable by a processor to anti-aliasa character, the computer-executable instructions comprisinginstructions for implementing a method as recited in claim
 1. 5. Acomputer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructionsexecutable by a processor to anti-alias a character, thecomputer-executable instructions comprising instructions for: increasingdimensions of a character to generate an expanded character, thecharacter being based on a number of gray levels, the expanded charactercomprising of a plurality of sub-blocks; generating a specialanti-aliased character by, for each sub-block: (a) identifying a numberto indicate how many foreground color pixels are in the sub-block; and(b) mapping the number to a respective grayscale color valuerepresenting a single destination color of the sub-block.
 6. Acomputer-readable medium as recited in claim 5, wherein determining thesingle destination color is based on the following equation:R=(Rf*gray/factor)+(Rb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (a)G=(Gf*gray/factor)+(Gb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (b)B=(Bf*gray/factor)+(Bb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (c) wherein “factor” isthe particular number of gray levels used. “Rf” is equal to a red aspectof the foreground color, “Gf” is equal to a green aspect of theforeground color. “Bf” is equal to a blue aspect of the foregroundcolor, “Rb” is equal to a red aspect of background color, “Gb” is equalto a green aspect of the background color, “Bb” is equal to a blueaspect of the background color, and “gray” is the number indicating howmany foreground color pixels are in the sub-block; and wherein thesingle destination color is (R, G, B).
 7. A computer-readable medium asrecited in claim 5, wherein the instructions for increasing dimensionsof the character, the dimensions were increased from an original size,and wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise, afterinstructions for determining the single destination color, instructionsfor scaling the expanded character back to the original size.
 8. Acomputer-readable medium as recited in claim 5, further comprisinginstructions for: receiving a request from an application for thecharacter, the request specifying the original size; obtaining thecharacter from a font file; subsequent to generating the specialanti-aliased character: (a) scaling the special anti-aliased characterback to a pre-expanded size; and (b) communicating the specialanti-aliased character to the application.
 9. A computing device toanti-alias a character, the computing device comprising: a processor; amemory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer-readablemedium comprising computer-executable instructions executable by theprocessor for: increasing dimensions of a character to generate anexpanded character, the character being based on a particular number ofgray levels, the expanded character comprising of a plurality ofsub-blocks, each sub-block comprising a respective plurality of pixels;identifying a number to indicate how many foreground color pixels are inthe sub-block: and for each sub-block, mapping the identified number toa single destination color that is based at least in part on theidentified number of foreground pixels in the respective pixels of thesub-block and the particular number of gray levels.
 10. A computingdevice as recited in claim 9, wherein the computer-executableinstructions for mapping the respective pixels of each sub-block arebased on the following equation:R=(Rf*gray/factor)+(Rb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (a)G=(Gf*gray/factor)+(Gb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (b)B=(Bf*gray/factor)+(Bb*(factor−gray)/factor);  (c) wherein “factor” isthe particular number of gray levels, “Rf” is equal to a red aspect ofthe foreground color, “Gf” is equal to a green aspect of the foregroundcolor, “Bf” is equal to a blue aspect of the foreground color, “Rb” isequal to a red aspect of background color, “Gb” is equal to a greenaspect of the background color, “Bb” is equal to a blue aspect of thebackground color, and “gray” is a number of sub-block foreground colorpixels; and wherein R, G, and B represent color components of the singledestination color.
 11. A computing device as recited in claim 9, whereinbefore the computer-executable instructions for increasing dimensions ofthe character the character had an original size, and wherein after thecomputer-executable instructions for each sub-block that map sub-blockpixels to a single destination color, the computer-executableinstructions further comprise instructions for scaling each of thesub-blocks to generate a special anti-aliased character that is based onthe original size.
 12. A method to anti-alias a character, the methodcomprising expanding a character by a factor; dividing the characterinto a plurality of blocks based on the factor, each block having acorresponding number of pixels; for each block: (a) identifying a numberof pixels in the block that respectively correspond to foreground colorof the character; (b) mapping the number to a respective grayscale colorvalue representing a single destination color of the sub-block; and (c)reducing dimensions of the character to a pre-expanded size.
 13. Amethod as recited in claim 12, wherein the character is not a bitmapfont.
 14. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the singledestination color is based on one (1) of sixteen (16) possible levels ofgray.
 15. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the singledestination color is an RGB color identified based on the following:R=(Rf*gray/factor)+(Rb*(factor−gray)/factor);G=(Gf*gray/factor)+(Gb*(factor−gray)/factor);B=(Bf*gray/factor)+(Bb*(factor−gray)/factor); and wherein “factor” isequivalent to a particular number of gray levels used to represent thecharacter, “Rf” is equal to a red aspect of the foreground color, “Gf”is equal to a green aspect of the foreground color, “Bf” is equal to ablue aspect of the foreground color, “Rb” is equal to a red aspect ofbackground color, “Gb” is equal to a green aspect of the backgroundcolor, “Bb” is equal to a blue aspect of the background color, and“gray” is equal to a grayscale value based on a number of pixels of thecorresponding pixels that represent the foreground color.
 16. A methodas recited in claim 12, after reducing dimensions of the character tothe pre-expanded size, further comprising communicating the character toan application.